Macklin clears up fight confusion

Matthew Macklin would like to clear up any confusion surrounding the circumstances of his fight with Chris Troupe falling through on the Irish Express card at Madison Square Garden last night.

Due to a contract mix up at the pre-fight weigh-in Troupe agreed to weigh-in again on the night of the fight. Both parties agreed to this but on the night Troupe reneged on this agreement and a member of his team admitted that he may well have weighed over 180lbs by the time he entered the ring.

At that weight he would have been five pounds over the light heavyweight limit. And this for a fight that was made just three pounds over light middleweight.

Matthew’s trainer Billy Graham said, “Obviously Matthew wanted to go through with the fight but my first priority is to look after my fighter and the weight difference on the night would have been ridiculous. It could easily have been over twenty pounds.”

A disappointed Matthew said, “I’m gutted that the fight fell through. I really wanted to make a big impression in front of the New York fans and a lot of people came up to me and said how disappointed they were.”

“I don’t blame Chris Troupe because he did what he was contracted to do. So did I but someone has obviously messed up with regard to arranging the weights and it’s cost me a dream fight at Madison Square Garden.”

It’s been a bad experience but at least I have the British title fight with Jamie Moore to look forward to and winning that title will more than make up for this disappointment.”